We’ve watched data center projects become fragmented into separate technology system packages that are designed by different designers and then installed by different contractors. This can result in system clashes, construction coordination issues, and commissioning issues that impact the project schedule and budget. Collaboration, convergence, and construction administration are the three C’s to keep data center … Read more
Brighton, UK – 18 December 2019 – The Chailey Heritage Foundation D.R.E.A.M. Centre sets a new standard in the creative use of cutting-edge audiovisual technology to make a range of experiences accessible for children and young people for whom it is very difficult to travel. Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall opened the centre on … Read more
For commercial buildings, the decision to use plenum cable materials is driven by the mechanical HVAC design, the architectural design, and construction costs. Per the National Electrical Code (NEC®), the exposed data cabling installed in “other space used for environmental air” must be plenum rated (e.g. OFNP, CL2P, CMP)1. One example is the space between the … Read more
Data center telecom design has moved away from traditional spanning tree networks (depicted below), which can choke the allocation of bandwidth, to fabric networks, which can provide multiple data paths. Fabric network design has had a significant impact on the cabling that runs from the top-of-rack switches in each server cabinet to the meet-me-rooms for off-site … Read more
Oakland – Oct. 17, 2019 – Technology engineering and design consultancy TEECOM won AV Magazine’s Consultancy of the Year award for 2019. Blair Parkin, Principal and Executive Vice President, collected the award at a ceremony in London on Friday evening the 11th. Parkin, who served as a judge for other categories, recused himself for this category. … Read more
Chailey Heritage Foundation provides schooling and residential care for children and young adults with complex physical disabilities, high health needs, sensory impairments, and associated learning difficulties. A couple of years ago, I was approached by Matt Barton (CEO 7thSense Design / Medialon) with a request to help out on a project he’d been working on with … Read more
One weekend last winter, the access control system malfunctioned at a company’s satellite offices in a California suburb. The first simple solution, as your IT department will tell you with so many modern technologies, was to reset the system by cycling the power off and on again. Unfortunately, there was no one on site who knew … Read more
There comes a time in almost every architectural project when budgets have to be re-evaluated. The process of budget alignment, known as value engineering, tends to hit “optional” items first, a category that frequently includes audiovisual (AV) technology. So how can an architect or owner make smart decisions about how to reduce the cost of AV … Read more
No matter how much money you invest in conference room technology, you’ll inevitably be disappointed in the experience if your conference room acoustics are bad. Conference room acoustics are frequently a challenge because these environments tend to be full of hard surfaces: gypsum board walls, glass, tables, screens. All of these elements create what is referred to … Read more
2018 was a big year for changes in the way that people interact with technology. On the one hand, adoption of smart devices has never been greater, with more than 19 million smart speakers (Amazon Echo and the like) shipped in just the third quarter of 2018. On the other hand, the European Union’s GDPR (General … Read more
